


Dancing With Our Hands Tied

by Dontreadthelastpage



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 09:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13028259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dontreadthelastpage/pseuds/Dontreadthelastpage
Summary: They had done it in 2014, would it happen again?





	Dancing With Our Hands Tied

Dancing with their hands tied. That is what it was. 

It started with Worlds 2013 in their hometown. When they finished Carmen for the first time being nearly perfect, she thought it would be enough. It was not. The writing was starting to be written on the wall. 

Going into the Grand Prix Final, Meryl and Charlie's scores were well ahead of theirs. But it motivated them to be perfect like never before. And they were perfect. Somehow 1.35 points came out of thin air and gave them a bad feeling. 

They felt the pressure in the Team Event. It was messy but enough to give Team Canada a silver. 

He told her before their final short dance that "No matter what we're together and no matter what I love you and no matter what we're going to enjoy this." At that moment, her deep fears went away and she felt that they could dance through an avalanche. And boy they did. 

Nothing in the world stopped the moments they created with those two skates. But she had a bad feeling both times when the scores came up. It was nothing they could have done differently. It was the politics of the sport. 

So they left the competitive sport. Explored new avenues of life. She really enjoyed going back to school, traveling the world with and without her skates, going out with friends, doing fashion shoots and even that swiped hair skier she forced her self to re-date. 

She was dancing all alone while he was across the pub cuddled up with his curling superstar. She was trying to be a happy single woman until the song came on. Their eyes locked and it was a fleeting moment of regret. She tried not to let the water rush into her eyes, but what if she could dance with him again? They could both do better than this. But she tried to brush it off as a second hand emotion. 

The rain was starting to turn from scattered droplets to a continuous flow but their conversation would not end here. As the rain picked up, they ran down the ancient Chinese steps to the car awaiting them. She looked off into the foggy Chinese landscape rolling by when he said, "It will be different this time" and she trusted his words. She would dance with him again. 

It was different. Montreal was a vibrant city and Marie-France and Patrice welcomed them with open arms. They went over new technique and praised their choice of music for this new show piece. They laughed and mistakes were not scolded but questioned how they could be fixed. 

They were also different. His curler was gone. He had helped her pick the right shade of pink tissue paper. They had dinners with too much wine that led to cuddles on the couch with romantic-comedies filling the comfortable silence. 

When the day of the shoot came, she danced barefoot in a dark studio room. He moved around her in a way that made her come alive. Swaying together in the dark rink, looking into his eyes, she whispered, "This time it's for us."

They repeated that line to each other before every skate that fall. And it showed in their results. They were better than ever before. When they came out on top versus the reigning world champions, she truly believed it was going to be different this time. 

Coming off another short dance world record going into the free dance, she did not find herself that nervous but he did. Standing in each other's embrace, ignoring the new free dance world record just posted by the French she whispered, "This time it's for us". And it was but he stumbled, did not even fully fall. She joked back "stop being so dramatic." It brought him back to the moment and her just being herself. She latched onto him and rubbed the soft spot near his ear whispering, "It will all be okay." 

And it was all okay. They had won their third world title. Even three weeks later, he was angry at himself and she kept saying it would all be okay. They sat cuddled on her couch, watching the love that will live forever. As the tears streamed down both of their faces, they knew the decision was made. They would end with a story about love, not just Christian and Satine's love, but their love too. 

She will always remember waking up that early November morning to see that the French had broken 200. But she told herself it was fine, they still had NHK next week. Yeah, they were nervous but they used it to attack both programs like never before. He blamed it on his botched twizzle. But she started to think there was something more to blame, beyond themselves. 

A week later, she knew exactly where to blame. The writing was being written on the walls again. They were doing everything. All she could do was kiss him when he turned their lights off that night. She thought back to the interview the previous day when she said, "That has to be enough." It just had to be enough, it had to be. 

They always say the Grand Prix Final is not the end all be all. But it always feels like it is. They could have held their heads in shame, but what did they have be ashamed of? Nothing. As they skated off the ice after putting on a façade to get through hearing the French national anthem being played, he pulled her close and kissed her head. All she could do was smile back. At least they had each other. And in that way, it would be different this time.


End file.
